Introduction:

High frequency audiometry (9000-20 000 Hz) can be really useful in the early diagnosis of deafness induced by noises, in contrast with conventional tonal audiometry (125-8000 Hz).

Objective:

Assess the usefulness of high frequency audiometry in the early diagnosis of deafness induced by noises in adolescents.

Methods:

Descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study in 85 adolescents exposed to noises; 45 of them were studying the 10th grade in a high school of Havana province, and 40 of them were in the first year of Medicine in a faculty of Havana province during school year 2015-2016. All of them took a survey, a physical examination of otolaryngology, liminar total audiometry and high frequency audiometry.

Results:

Tonal audiometry was normal in all the cases. In high frequency audiometry of all the studied adolescents started to decrease audition from 13000 HZ and it was noticed an increasing neurosensorial deafness up to 85 decibels in the right ear and 78 decibels in the left ear in 20 000 Hz of frequency.

Conclusions:

The adolescents assessed have auditive habits that can jeopardize their audition; all of them already have signs of damage that are not noticed in the tonal audiometry but in the high frequency audiometry in the different exposures to noises of high decibels. This proves the usefulness of this kind of audiometry not only in the field of audiology, but also in preventive medicine.

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